


I'm Thinking This Was a Bad Idea After All

by smallcroissant



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, This is utterly ridiculous I don't know why this became a thing, minor side pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-01 11:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4017724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallcroissant/pseuds/smallcroissant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It just seemed like such a Marius thing to do the whole "The RA is out to get you because you brought a cat into your dorm and that's a big no-no, and the cat wouldn't stop meowing for like 3 hours straight while you were gone, so I convinced said RA that it was actually me who was meowing because I think you're really cute??"<br/>And so this was born.<br/>*Rating might be subject to change, depending on how the story naturally progresses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Being Helpful

Oh god, oh godohgodohgod.

He didn’t have to guess who was behind the door; Enjolras could easily tell who it was by the aggressive nature of the knocking. His RA, Remy, who had to be one of the most vindictive people he had ever met, and was by no means cut out personality-wise for this job, was surely the one to have come knocking at such an ungodly hour of the morning. He came rapping on the door sharply with several repetitive knocks, and called out in a booming voice “Monsieur Enjolras, open this door RIGHT NOW; you’ve got some major explaining to do!”

Enjolras figured that this was bound to happen sooner or later, although he had to give it to himself—he had tried really hard to keep his secret on the down low. With a heavy, yet frantic sigh, he called back that he’d be just a minute. He figured that if Remy kept on screaming through the door like this, surely everyone on his floor would wake up. Enjolras also figured that that was probably what Remy would enjoy seeing, regardless.

A minute wouldn’t be enough time to come up with a solution for this whole mess of a situation, but it comforted him to think he could stall, even if it was a small amount. As he tugged on a sweatshirt (failing to see he had put it on inside out), and trying his hardest to slip into his shoes, Enjolras nervously looked over to his bed—there lay the root of the whole problem, in general. And she was utterly adorable.

Enjolras had gotten her from a small clinic near the school that Courfeyrac had pointed out to him, one day when they got coffee together. He had suggested it after learning how isolated Enjolras felt in his lonely, single dorm—saying something along the lines of “Well, have you considered getting an animal to keep you company? Wouldn’t it be nice to come home to something cute? I’d offer up my services, but lord knows I couldn’t actually be fit to live with you for a long period of time…” Despite Courfeyrac’s joking tone, Enjolras couldn’t help but think that he was on to something really good. Maybe he did need a furry friend to help him feel motivated about his less than amusing living situation. He vowed to take a trip over to the animal clinic later that week, and by the time he actually did it, he had reaffirmed his resolution to adopt a small pet to take home with him.

Of course, he fell in love the moment he saw her—he couldn’t say no, after he had felt her nudge against him when he was permitted to mingle with the selection of cats the clinic had for adoption. She had gravitated toward him and he to her, and honestly, he knew he had to have her. Not even 20 minutes later, she had been placed in a crate for him to carry her home in, and Enjolras was already coming up with the perfect name to give her.

He decided on Louise, as he drove home—it only seemed appropriate, and she looked like it, to him.

Fortunately, the dreaded RA was missed when Enjolras brought her home, and he had no issues making it up to his room without anyone seeing. He let her out, and then proceeded to set up a place for her litterbox and food dishes next to his desk. Louise made herself at home at the foot of his bed, curling up into a tight ball and promptly falling asleep within an hour of being introduced to her new home. Enjolras couldn’t help the urge to reach out and pet her, as she purred sleepily in her slumber.

It was a few hours later when realisation hit him—how was he going to get away with keeping this cat a secret from his housing department, the other people on his floor, and his RA? Animals, unless they were service pets, were strictly forbidden in any of the dorms. Enjolras lay in bed, cursing his own stupidity for forgetting such an important factor, but deep down, he knew that he couldn’t get rid of her. He decided that he would try to keep Louise a secret for as long as possible, and hope he wouldn’t be kicked out when everything would start to fall apart.

And sooner than he anticipated, everything did start to crumble—Louise behaved for about a week, silently keeping to herself whenever Enjolras had to leave for class or work. When he would come home, she’d scamper over to him and meow quietly, not wanting to leave his side for the entire evening. Enjolras enjoyed her affection, most certainly, and lovingly treated her with as much attention as he could give.

Louise soon began to develop a sort of separation anxiety, after about two weeks of her living in his dorm. In the mornings, she’d meow when Enjolras would get up to get dressed to leave. She began to refuse food during the hours he was absent from his dorm. She would claw and scratch at any piece of fabric that was left about, especially his comforter, and would tear it to shreds when he wasn’t there to tell her no. And worst of all, she would meow sorrowfully for at least 30 minutes straight upon his departure from his dorm. Of course, Enjolras didn’t know about this, since he wasn’t around to hear it. But now everyone on his floor most certainly knew there was a cat in one of the dorms.

So when Remy came knocking, Enjolras knew the game was over, although he really wasn’t certain how exactly he had figured it out. Little did he know that Louise had practically given herself away to anyone with ears.

Enjolras hurriedly pulled out the crate he had brought her home in from under his bed, and then scooped her up in his arms to set her inside. He was lucky that Louise behaved so well—she made virtually no noise as he shut the lid and placed the crate out of view, behind the desk. Now that her visibility was taken care of, Enjolras hoped that Remy couldn’t be able to see into his room and find the litterbox, when he opened the door.

He scampered over to the door and threw it open, looking at a disgruntled RA with guiltless eyes. “Hey, Remy, I…What’s up?” He mumbled out, hoping he seemed a bit aloof.

“What’s up? _What’s up?_ Enjolras, I think you know _exactly_ what’s up. Don’t play dumb.” Remy spat out with venom, meeting Enjolras’ eyes before looking past his figure, trying to see into the dorm.

“I, uh…I don’t?” Enjolras said, placing a hand on his hip while the other held the frame of the door firmly. He did his best to position himself so Remy wouldn’t be able to see too far in. “It’s a Saturday morning, my only day off, and here you are, accusing me of…I don’t even know, exactly, because you’ve failed to make yourself clear. What exactly is it that you think I’m up to?” He figured he’d try to be as chilly as Remy, in hopes it would help keep his cool.

“I’ve received several different reports from people on this floor that a _meowing_ has come from somewhere in this vicinity, and upon a thorough investigation of this wing that has lasted the entirety of the week, I’ve heard and narrowed down the sound to be near your dorm.” Remy curled his lips up in a devious smirk, as if he enjoyed finding faults in people. “Meowing can only mean one thing—that a cat is somewhere in this building…an _illegal_ cat, at that, and a cat that will certainly get someone expelled, whoever is in possession of it. Now don’t play dumb with me anymore, Enjolras, it’s bothersome and boring—I know what you’re hiding!”

Enjolras took this as Remy’s accusatory way of saying he wanted to search the dorm room. No way was he going to get inside, not if Enjolras could stop him.

“That’s utterly ridiculous, I don’t have a cat. I knew the rules when I signed up for the dorm room—cats are strictly forbidden; any kind of pet is forbidden. For you to accuse me of this is cruel and unusual, especially since you haven’t any actual proof that I even have a cat. If I actually thought I could get away with that, I…”

Enjolras only paused because from behind Remy, the door to the dorm across the way was being opened, and a ruffled head of strawberry blonde hair poked out. He knew the figure to be a boy with the surname of Pontmercy (and he only knew this because it was required of everyone to post their name on a little sign outside of the room). They had never actually met; just got glimpses of each other over the past months, when by chance they would come home or leave at the same time. Enjolras’ impression of him was that he seemed a tad nervous and disastrously dishevelled, but harmless, and nice enough. Remy could tell right away that Enjolras’ eyes had averted to whatever was behind him, so he in turn, turned to look around.

The boy’s hands nervously gripped the door, as he pushed it open fully. With a quavering voice, he said “Is…is everything alright over there? I couldn’t help but over-hear….you’re being really quite loud for 7 in the morning…”

Remy was the first to rally back a quick “Yes, Marius, everything is fine. I’m just here on duty to expose Enjolras of his wrong-doings—“

“I told you, I didn’t do anything wrong!” Enjolras interrupted, getting tired of Remy’s annoying banter.

Surprisingly, Marius spoke again. “Is…is this about the…meowing, by chance?”

Enjolras’ eyes flashed to Marius’ in a quick second, as a moment of panic took hold of him. Was this guy going to actually do him in? Was he going to reaffirm all of Remy’s suspicions and expose Louise for good? Enjolras could feel himself start to sweat, as he felt everything around him unfolding before his very eyes. All he could think about was that he wasn’t ready to give up Louise, and he most certainly didn’t want to be caught in a lie in front of Remy.

“It is, in fact! Have you heard it, too?” Remy jumped, energised, all of a sudden.

Marius’ first response was only a small laugh. “Oh, uh…I think there’s been a, uh…a huge misunderstanding, if this is about the meowing that’s been going on for a week or so?”

Enjolras narrowed his eyebrows at Marius’ statement, confused by what he meant. A misunderstanding? What was he getting at? Remy looked just as confused.

Marius stepped forward into the hallway, as his door shut firmly behind him. Enjolras could see now that he looked as if he had just rolled out of bed—one of his socks were mismatched and his shirt entirely wrinkled. For a moment, he wondered how loud he and Remy were actually being to have woken someone from across the way.

“Oh goodness, this is my entire fault…” Marius said, no longer laughing like he had been. Instead, he took to wringing his hands together, looking utterly guilty. “I can’t believe I’ve gotten someone else all mixed up in this, I’m terribly sorry….”

“Marius, what exactly are you saying? How is Enjolras having a cat your fault?” Remy said snidely, narrowing his gaze as he took in Marius’ words.

“You see, I…That meowing everyone has been hearing? God, this is entirely embarrassing, but…but it’s been coming from me…I’ve been the one making the noise…” And he bit his lip nervously, before following his statement up with “N-not from a cat, or anything! I’m not hiding anything, I… _I’ve_ been meowing b-because….”

As he spoke, Enjolras couldn’t help but notice that Marius was looking at him the entire time—not at Remy. He had this look in his eye that made Enjolras think he was trying so hard to say these words; to come up with some sort of answer to a rather ridiculous situation. It unnerved him for just a moment, before he fully understood what was happening.

Marius was lying his ass of, in hopes it would get Remy off of Enjolras’ tail.

“Because…?” Remy asked, but he looked almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Because auditions for the musical…Cats, it’s uh…the show is about cats, right? And I really want to get a part, but…you see, it’s uh, it’s really rather embarrassing, but, I’m really bad at meowing, and…and I figured that I have a couple of weeks to practise before I have to do it for real, so…so I’ve been m-meowing to practise, and…and that’s what you’ve been hearing…”

Nobody else would have been able to convince anyone of such a farfetched lie, but Marius pulled it off because he was so nervous in nature. It took everything Enjolras had not to burst into laughter at this, which seemed so ridiculous. Remy’s mouth just formed into a flat line, as he seemed to be processing the words.

“Really?” He said. “It’s been you this entire time?”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause anyone any harm, I…I didn’t think I was being that loud, I guess?” Marius said quickly, arms outstretched in a frantic movement to portray his nervousness. Then, he turned to looked again at Enjolras and said “I’m really very sorry that I’ve gotten you into this mess. I never thought that this was going to happen at all.”

Enjolras wasn’t sure how to respond, in all actuality. Why would someone like Marius, who he hadn’t even ever spoken to, do something so peculiar as this for him? What compelled him to go out on a limb and blatantly lie, just for the sake of diverting attention from the truth? And how would Enjolras ever be able to repay this stranger who lived across the hall, who he had no ties to and knew nothing about? Everything just seemed so strange that Enjolras wasn’t sure how to go about any of it.

It was enough to get Remy to leave, though—he left with a glare directed at Enjolras, and no apology whatsoever. The two were left staring at each other, watching their RA disappear down the elevator. When he was certainly too far away for him to hear them, Marius quickly looked to Enjolras with a big grin.

“Was I good? Do you think I convinced him?” He said in a single stream of rapid-fire words. “I hope I got him! He won’t bother you about it anymore, I think!”

Enjolras blinked wildly for a moment, too perplexed by the situation to do much more. Marius stood by him, giddy with glee for having foiled Remy’s plan to accuse Enjolras; at one point, he had extended his hand out to Enjolras for a high-five for a job well done, but retracted it when he saw that he wasn’t going to get a response or gesture back.

“I…Excuse me, but…Why did you--?”

“There’s really no need to thank me!” Marius interrupted, drawing just a step closer and dropping his voice. “But you really should find another home for your pet for the rest of the year, because I don’t think I could come up with any other excuse beside the one I just gave him.” Shyly, he bit his lip, which seemed to stretch out all of the freckles that dotted his chin. “I, uh…I might be able to help with that, too. You see, I have a friend who’s got her own place, and she might be willing to take care of your cat until you can get a different situation set up. She’s really sweet, her name is Cosette, and—“

Marius continued to quietly rattle on, explaining how he would be willing to take Louise over there, and his friend would probably let Enjolras come and visit her all the time. Enjolras listened, of course, but he found he couldn’t do much more than nod in response. Why, oh why was this absolute stranger being so damn kind?

And how had they never formally met before all of this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think this will be the last I write about this AU, I'd like to expand on Enjolras and Marius dialogue + bring in a really cute and helpful Cosette!!
> 
> FACT:  
> 1) Louise is the name of Enjolras' cat because of Louise Michel  
> 2) I headcanon Marius as being the worlds worst actor, so I thought it was comical that he would think of an audition for a musical as his excuse for his meowing  
> 3) Enjolras is totally digging the startled, wide-eyed persona Pontmercy has got going on, I don't make the rules


	2. Just Buy Me Coffee

Of course, Enjolras accepted Marius’ offer to find a place for Louise—but not because he had no other options, and certainly not because he had started to grow intrigued with the boy, oh no, not at _all…_

But, to be frank, it was the most convenient situation; really, it was. It seemed almost too simple to just hand over Louise to a sweeter-than-sugar Cosette, who promised to take good care of her and keep him updated on her wellbeing. Her flat had the perfect set up for Louise to roam about, and it was no problem setting up Cosette with all the things Louise required to be happy and well maintained for at least the next couple of weeks. Louise took an immediate liking to Cosette, and seeing them interact together made Enjolras realise she was in the best of places, until they could live and be reunited together again when the year would be over. He was given permission to come at any time he wanted for visits, and he knew he would definitely be taking her up on that offer.

It was thanks to Marius that everything went so swimmingly. From setting Enjolras up with Cosette’s number, to helping him sneak Louise out of the dorm, Marius was there and willing to offer up any and all of his services. He even accompanied Enjolras over to Cosette’s flat, and offered to carry Louise’s carrying crate for the entire time on the Metro, so Enjolras wouldn’t have to be “inconvenienced”, in his words.

Now, the two were sitting across from each other in a café fairly close to Cosette’s flat—Enjolras nibbling at a canelé, and Marius downing his café viennois to steady his nerves. The café itself was packed with locals, all hurrying to get to wherever it was they were headed to. Enjolras and Marius were the only ones sitting down at one of the few tables inside. Enjolras couldn’t help but notice that Marius would visibly jump in his seat every time the espresso machine would whirl and hiss with use.

“I really appreciate all you have done for me today, Marius. Really, I do.” Enjolras said, smiling as he lifted his fork from the porcelain of his plate. “You didn’t have to help me. You didn’t have to get involved.”

Marius shrugged as he took another sip. A bit of foam lingered above his lip, but he didn’t seem to notice. “But I did, and I feel happy about it. Remy was being a real jerk to you about the whole thing, especially because he didn’t have any concrete evidence to prove it was really you.” At this moment, Marius noticed the foam left from his drink—blushing, he tried to wipe it sneakily away with the back of his hand. “Plus, you seem really nice, and…and I wanted an excuse, I guess, to…”

 _To be on your good side,_ Enjolras concluded. Even though Marius had trailed off, Enjolras could easily fill in the blank. Marius just wanted an excuse to get to know him, it was clear by the way he had behaved so far. Upon simply internalising this, Enjolras found that the notion didn’t bother him in the slightest.

An awkward pause passed between them, but not for long, for Marius quickly jumped back onto a different topic. “You don’t need to thank me, and you most definitely don’t need to repay me. Buying me coffee is plenty.”

And Enjolras had to admit, Marius’ smile was probably the most infectious, sun-shiny thing he had ever been witness to—it felt nice to see it, and know that he was the one to place it there. Setting his paper napkin onto the table, he too grinned back at him.

They talked for a while about the simple things, putting Enjolras’ predicament and Marius’ generosity behind them so they could learn a bit more about each other. Enjolras talked about where he grew up and the friends he made when he came to university, and Marius mentioned what he was studying and what museums he liked best in Paris. All of it seemed like small talk, but it felt comfortable and welcoming to just share little anecdotes about the little things that made up their daily lives.

“What made you switch to linguistics?” Enjolras asked, upon learning that originally, Marius wanted to be a lawyer before he had the chance to take language courses—of which, he was taking 4!

“I guess, you could say that I found what I was passionate about, and once I realised it, I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass me by without trying to take a stab at it. My dorm mate from last term was a German exchange student, and he taught me some words so we could communicate easier together. In turn, I started helping him with his French. I took to the language easily and soon, I could practically say everything I wanted to _‘in Deutsch’_ ” He playfully said, while he ran his finger along the curve of the café table. “I’m fortunate to have these kinds of things come naturally to me, I just wish it didn’t take me nearly 22 years to figure it all out…”

By the end of the afternoon, they had both exchanged numbers and had mutually agreed that it had been a pleasure getting a chance to talk—yes, they both would venture to say it was an experience they wouldn’t mind repeating. Marius made a comment about messaging him later in the week if he wanted to catch up again, and Enjolras departed with a promise to do so that he planned to uphold.

Both boys left feeling like they had one more friend than they did before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was short short short!! There really should be more Cosette in this, but I promise, she'll come in with actual dialogue soon enough!! For now, have some fumbling nerds who have a hard time making eye contact.   
> Multilingual Marius is the only thing that matters, tbh....  
> Let me know if you like it so far, or if you have any suggestions!!


	3. Just Don't Fret So Much

“Well, what about a night out together? You could go to dinner, and then maybe take a stroll down to the bank of the Seine and— _oh!_ No, you should go out to Versailles and go wine tasting, and then—“

Marius couldn’t possibly keep in his groan of disapproval upon hearing Cosette’s newest and most cringe-worthy suggestions. “Seriously?” He asked in a tone of utter disbelief, as he reached across her coffee table and grasped at his drink mug. Humourlessly laughing, he gave her a look that suggested he thought she had crossed the line. “I hardly think all of that is necessary, Cosette. I was thinking something a little less…romantic. I want to get him to like me, not think that I want to marry him or anything. Going to Versailles, strolling across Paris at midnight—Enjolras is _totally_ going to get the wrong idea!”

The two of them were currently wrapped up in conversation on Cosette’s loveseat in her flat, sipping on steaming tea with a sleeping Louise situated between them. Occasionally, Louise would wake and stretch out—usually, whenever Marius would rest his hand from petting her for just a moment—but for the most part, she remained loyally curled up next to both of their thighs. Looking at her served as a reminder that Marius really had to figure out what he was going to do about the whole ‘Enjolras situation’, which seemed to be the root of all of his newly developed anxiety.

Marius had originally come over to Cosette’s to ask for her advice on this very topic, but now he found himself severely regretting it. To be specific, he had asked her kindly for any suggestions she would have for fun things to do with another person around the city. Too soon, it would be his turn to initiate an outing between the two of them, and he wanted to make sure it was as perfectly not-awkward as he could make it. But as soon as Cosette started to give him her honest opinions, he began to realise she had a completely different idea for things that constituted as fun and friendly. Everything she would bring up only made his cheeks flame into a brilliant shade of pink.

And it wasn’t like Marius didn’t enjoy doing the things she was suggesting—in fact, to him, a night spent walking hand in hand along the river seemed absolutely perfect, just…not with Enjolras, ohnonono. The thought alone of doing anything that could possibly be interpreted as potentially romantic filled him with a horrible sense of dread. He tried to picture himself justifying a terrible awkward situation, and nearly died of shame.

Cosette looked less than pleased at being interrupted. “Only you would be prude enough to think that going out to dinner and walking around town would be a violent display of romantic affection, Marius, I swear.” Despite seeming irritated, she couldn’t stay like that with him for long. As she placed a hand on his knee, she met eyes with him in a sincere gesture. “What, pray tell, did you have in mind, then? Maybe we should start there and work up to a more comfortable solution, since you don’t seem too thrilled with any of my ideas?”

Marius was quick to place his own hand on top of Cosette’s, as he pondered her words. “But that’s just it, I don’t really have any idea…I mean, Enjolras is just such a cool person that I want to make sure whatever we end up doing is something he’ll actually like.” Releasing a sorrowful sigh, he shook his head in defeat. “It’s not like I can just…invite him out to this elaborate evening without him thinking I have _some_ sort of other motive beside being his friend. I don’t want any sort of miscommunication to happen between us, but I figure that’s too much to ask of myself, I guess…”

“As long as you don’t end up kissing him, Marius, I think you’ll be fine.” She replied shortly. While she looked at her friend, she had this worrying feeling that she should be more concerned about the extreme measures Marius was taking to ensure everything would go well on this potential date. To get stressed out about a simple get-together with a friend seemed nearly ridiculous, and she wondered, besides the obvious, why Marius would choose to devote all his time to thinking and planning it. A part of her knew the answer, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him so. After knowing Marius for nearly 10 years now, Cosette liked to pride herself on being able to see through his elaborate concoctions to hide his emotions.

Her suspicions were confirmed when he didn’t exactly respond to her statement with words—rather, he just kind of groaned and let his head fall into his hands as he leaned forward in his seat. Cosette took this chance to remove her hand from his knee, and gently laid it upon the small of his back to rub smooth circles there. Biting her lip, she could definitely confirm now that Marius had what seemed to be the beginnings of a pretty bad crush.

“If you don’t like any of my suggestions, and you can’t come up with your own, maybe it’s best if you ask someone who would be sure to make something fun and light? I’m sure you know someone who is very capable of that, at least. Explain to them the situation, and chances are, you’ll have your solution.” Putting her hands back at her side, Cosette straightened in her seat before continuing. “Can you think of anyone like that?”

A moment passed before Marius cocked his head up in realisation. A flash of a smile crossed his face. Nodding, he looked to Cosette with an expression of brilliance, before he nearly shouted the name “Courf!” As he scrambled up out of his seat, the sleeping Louise nestled between them woke, and promptly scampered off to get out of his way. Excitedly, he continued by saying “Courfeyrac will know what to do, I’m sure of it! Cosette, you’re a genius!”

She wouldn’t go that far as to say that, but she had to hand it to herself—that wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. “Just tell him the situation and I’m sure he’ll have an answer. Knowing him, he probably has a solution for every predicament and occasion you could think of…” But she found that Marius wasn’t really listening to her anymore, due to all of his excitement. She stood then, and walked over to Marius, where he was already plucking his tired looking coat from the hook by the door. Obviously, he wanted to leave immediately, to go find Courf. Feeling like she should send him off with words of encouragement, she stood on the tips of her toes to reach his cheek and planted a friendly kiss there.

“Go get ‘em, Pontmercy. I know you can do it. You have no reason to be worried about Enjolras, okay? I mean, you’re the one that saved him from getting kicked out of residence—he and Louise owe you big time, still.” Marius gave a shy smile at that whilst he went to open the front door.

With a genuine smile of her own, Cosette felt bold enough to then say “I feel pretty sure that he likes you just the way you like him, and he’ll be happy with whatever happens between the two of you. Try not to fret too much, then…alright?”

At this, Marius embraced Cosette in a hug and thanked her for her help, choosing not to respond to the last bit of what she said. “I’ll be in touch soon, Cosette. God, you’re a real life saver….” He was already stepping out the door of the flat as he said that. He gave a little wave, which she returned, before he bid her a final farewell and took off down the stairwell, and out into the streets of Paris.

Finding Courf would be easy, he thought—he would most certainly be in one of his usual haunts, which Marius knew all too well. Eagerness filled him with warmth and hope, and with every step closer to where he figured Courf was, he felt reassured that he was doing the right thing, for once.

And just like that, Marius Pontmercy bounded off in a wrinkled flourish, with his heart set on accomplishing the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayokay, this chapter and the next will serve as fillers of sorts before we actually get to experience more Marius and Enjolras interaction, terribly sorry about that. But we'll get there soon enough, I promise!!  
> Next update should be relatively soon, thanks for reading!!


	4. Just Figure It Out For Me

_15:23_ **[message from Marius]:** courf

_15:25_ **[message from Marius]:** courf where r u?

_15:26_ **[message from Marius]:** i’ve searched for u in all the usual spots, i can’t find u

_15:31_ **[message from Marius]:** pls this is super important  & v time sensitive, answer me back when u see this

_15:52_ **[message from Marius]:** courf i need you to plan my date for me, HELP!!

_15:58_ **[message from Courfeyrac]:** omg, bby pontmercy has himself a date, how cute!! i’d love to help

_15:59_ **[message from Courfeyrac]:** oh right, u need to find me…currently @ the library, really close to the lecture hall where we had that class together last year, u know the 1?

_16:01_ **[message from Marius]:** yeah i think i do, i’m walking there rn. see u in a few

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It only took about 4 minutes for Marius to find his way over to the library Courfeyrac was talking about. He hurried as fast as he could, which helped just a little. When he entered the building, the sheer size of the main entrance was overwhelming, but he soon got over it. As he walked along the first corridor of shelves, the only thing he could think of was that it really was a shame that this was his first time ever stepping foot into the place.

Sure enough, Courf was sitting at a round table near the check-out counter, where a set-up of several large and small work places happened to be situated. Marius took in his friend’s appearance as he neared closer to him, and couldn’t help but notice that he seemed out of sorts—or, at the very least, a bit distracted. He had his messenger bag open in front of him, but no materials out, and his eyes kept glancing a few paces over to his left in what looked to be eager anticipation. Marius also noted that Courf didn’t even notice him come in; only when he was right in front of him did he actually seem to acknowledge his presence.

“Marius! It’s good to see you!” He said, voice loud for a whisper. “Sit down for just a moment, but we can go somewhere else soon, if you want.”

Marius, after bidding him a friendly hello, did as he was told and took up the seat on Courfeyrac’s right-hand side. “What are you even doing here in the first place though, Courf? I mean, it’s not a bad thing or anything, but I never pegged a library as your kind of…scene, or whatever…” It was all too amusing to imagine his friend attempting to be quiet, nestled between tomes and tomes of books. He briefly wondered how many times Courf would be shushed by the librarians, if he stayed there for a long period of time.

Courfeyrac, in turn, looked to him and sighed exasperatedly. “I know, I know…it’s really not, you’re right. I find this place horribly stuffy and boring, but as long as _he’s_ here and I am permitted to just look at him, I could sit and be happy all day…” With a flick of his head, his eyes averted over to a bespectacled man behind the check-out counter, who seemed to be terribly preoccupied with putting new labels on glossy book covers. Courf continued by saying “I guess you can get all dramatic about it and consider it my burden to bear, but with a face like that, it’s hard to really mind at all. He’s positively _stunning,_ isn’t he?”

It would be a flat out lie for Marius to say anything otherwise—the man had a bookish aura about him that suggested intelligence, which complimented his stylish yet practical clothing choices. Watching Courf react to his every move was amusing in and of itself, he had to admit. He laughed quietly before saying “Ahh, well that sure explains it. Have you had the chance to talk to him yet?”

“No, but I think I’m getting there…A couple of minutes before you came in, the other librarian—the one with the perm, standing behind him with the filing—shushed me because evidently, I was ruffling my things too loudly, and—“

But before Courf could continue, as if on cue, the harsh sound of ‘shhhh’ broke him of his train of thought. The sound was, no doubt, coming from the librarian Courf had just mentioned. A flash of movement caught both of their eyes, as they turned in unison to see the woman behind the counter give them a glare whilst rudely placing her index finger to her lips in the universal sign of ‘Shut the hell up’. Marius could only think that her ears must have been burning.

Courf just kind of shrugged in a ‘See what I mean?’ gesture, before he made to start packing his things up, which wasn’t much. “Let’s get out of here. We still have your predicament we need to address.” He whispered quite louder than he had been talking previously, as a bold protestation to the rules.

“But what about the guy? Don’t you want to ask him his name or something?” Marius hurriedly replied. It seemed far too abrupt to leave now. “You shouldn’t leave for my sake, you should leave because you want to…”

“It’s fine, really, we should just go.” Courf’s mind was already made up. “Want to go out to eat and talk, or just go back to your place?” He was already making to stand.

Now it was Marius’ turn to shrug in reply. “I wouldn’t mind grabbing a bite, if you’re up to it?” He too, quickly swept up onto his feet. Truth be told, he was more than starving; food didn’t sound too bad at all.

“Wonderful. So, the usual place, or—?”

Again though, Courf was cut off quite unexpectedly—but this time, it wasn’t the nails-on-chalkboard sound of shushing from the lady librarian. A much more pleasant, closer voice interrupted his words to interject politely.

“Um, excuse me, but…” And Courf noticeably stiffened when he realised the voice belonged to the cute library intern, who just so happened to be standing in his near proximity. “…I came over here to ask you to be quieter, if you could? The head librarian told me she’s asked you a couple of times to be silent, so…” He didn’t look irritated or peeved or anything like that, really—but it was impossible to not see the faint red tint in his cheeks when he looked at Courf. “…I just want to warn you before she loses a fuse that you should really take heed of that. She’s got no tolerance for those kinds of things, unfortunately. It would be a shame to see you kicked out…”

What followed was a rather uncomfortable silence. Marius had figured Courf would be eager to jump quickly into a conversation initiated by the cute librarian, but instead, he stood there stock still and staring. He couldn’t find the means to articulate anything in the form of words to him, so he just kind of spluttered out a long drawn “Uh…..” while he averted his eyes back and forth between the carpet of the library, and the library intern himself.

Judging by the stranger’s perplexed face, Marius reasoned that _he_ would have to be the one to salvage this one—not one of his strong suits, but he was willing to do anything to help a friend. Quickly, he reached over to the table and swooped up Courfeyrac’s bag for him, pretending it was his own. As he slung it over his shoulder, he jumped into action by saying “Oh, well what a coincidence? My friend and I were just about to leave. We uh, won’t be a disturbance anymore now, right Courf? Because we’re leaving. Right now. Like, soon—we’re just about to go, uh…” He shot Courf a quick glance, desperately begging for him to say _anything_ , for this was just too much for him to take. “…right, Courfeyrac?”

It was almost as if Courf had snapped back into reality—his shoulders released their tension, he was able to relax his posture, and words flew right out of his mouth as he scrambled to pick up the pieces of Marius’ botched attempt at trying to play it cool. “Yeah, we are—we should probably stop disturbing the peace, am I right, Monsieur…?” And it was clear that he was trying to fish for a name to put with the face; some sort of solid information that could be considered acquired not in vain.

“Combeferre, it’s—I’m Combeferre.” The intern hurriedly said. Somehow, though, his words managed to come out charming and eloquent—not at all nervous.

“Well, Combeferre, I thank you much for being kind enough to personally warn us. We’ll take our leave, now…See you around?” An awkward first meeting wouldn’t be complete without what Marius affectionately called the ‘Courfeyrac Winning Smile’, which he flashed now with brilliance. It was almost enough to glaze over his nervousness. He gave a small, friendly wave as he saw Combeferre nod in approval, and then started taking small strides away from the two of them, toward the exit. That was the cue for Marius to get a move on.

Marius gave a shy gesture of farewell before catching up to fall into stride by Courfeyrac’s side. Faster, they walked, making haste toward the big double doors of the library. Only once did Courfeyrac glance back to see if Combeferre was still watching him, and when he saw that he indeed was, he happily reached out his palm to Marius for a jovial and triumphant high five to celebrate.

When they were finally out of the building entirely, Marius seriously thought his eardrums were going to blow out due to all of Courf’s excited screaming over the whole situation. Not that he minded, or anything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over a shared portion of phanaeng curry at the usual Thai place they liked to go to together, Marius finally filled in Courf on his predicament. The explanation had come out in a steady stream of worry—he mentioned the circumstances of how he met Enjolras, the conversation they had had over coffee after Louise had been dropped off at Cosette’s, and the nagging feeling he felt compelled to have whenever he even so much as thought of Enjolras. Never once throughout his entire speech did he mention Enjolras by name, though—at least, not until Courf asked him for something to address him as.

“He’s actually living in the residence hall I live in, right across from me. Enjolras is—how do I begin to describe him, really? He’s kind and charismatic, and…What, did I say something wrong?” Marius stopped mid-sentence when he looked at his friend and saw his expression to what he had just said. With mouth open slightly in shock, colour promptly drained from Courf’s cheeks upon hearing Marius mention Enjolras’ name.

And he had reason to be a bit flabbergasted; it’s not every day that your best friend has a ginormous crush on your _other_ best friend, who you thought had never met before. Hazily, he could now recall getting a bombardment of texts from Enjolras a few days ago, describing a situation very similar to the one Marius just recounted, if not word for word. The whole situation seemed almost too good to be true—and now here sat Marius, eager to get Courfeyrac’s assistance for a date he could pretty much plan in his sleep and tailor exactly to fit Enjolras’ preferences.

But Courfeyrac now had the decision to make on whether or not to tell Marius that he knew Enjolras. It felt too soon to say one way or the other. For the time being, while he reasoned with the best option, he decided to play it cool and not mention it. “Nono, not at all, Marius. Nothing you said was wrong. I was just looking at the way you blush when you talk about him, it’s really rather cute, and—“

“ _Ugghhhhhh_ , not you, too!” Marius groaned. “That’s all Cosette had to say, too. I’m telling you, my feelings for him are nothing but friendly, and I have no idea why everyone thinks I have this huge infatuation with Enjolras when all I really want is just to be his friend!” Shouting for Marius was equivalent to Courf’s whispering, but just the same, he apologised for his ‘outburst’. “I’m sorry, it’s just frustrating to have to keep reiterating to everyone that I’m not…you know…with Enjolras. People like to assume that I’m more interesting than I actually am, I suppose? I feel like I’ve been trying to justify my actions all week, because of it.”

He looked downward at his bowl of reddish-orange curry, as he stirred at it absentmindedly with his fork. Courf watched this from across the table and wrinkled his nose in an expression of sympathy. He could relate to what Marius most certainly was feeling, without a doubt, but knew he was strong enough to get over it.

“Oh, Pontmercy…I was just kidding around, friend! You can take this at your own pace, or whatever is most comfortable for you. Don’t let other people get on your nerves—you do you, you know?” He offered up, and then to lighten the mood, reached across the table to ruffle at Marius’ already crazy-looking hair. This provoked a half-smile from Marius.

“So you like him and want to get to know him better? That’s all?”

“Yeah exactly, but I’m not sure how to go about it.” Marius said, as he placed his index finger to his chin. “I wanted to ask you if you could think of some fun things I could invite him out to do, because I couldn’t come up with much. Neither could Cosette. Any suggestions?”

For Enjolras, Courfeyrac could come up with at least 40 different recommendations that he was certain he would enjoy. The fine balancing act was not letting Marius catch on to him, though. Pretending like he had to think hard to come up with a response, he paused for a few moments to keep him suspended. Finally, though, he spoke.

“Based upon the conversations you had and what you believe would be his preferences, I think maybe going to an exhibit at an art gallery would be a good place to start? But do it off the beaten path, because he’s probably seen the big ones already. Impress him with how well you know Paris. Then maybe afterwards, you can invite him out to dinner before heading back. I mean, it’s pretty much fool proof—not to mention, something interesting that anyone would enjoy.” He paused and took another bite of his meal, letting his words sink into Marius. He had to admit, he was doing a pretty good job of playing along.

Marius nodded quietly as he mulled over Courfeyrac’s pleasant-sounding plan. “You know what, I think that would be perfect—absolutely perfect, even! Courf, I…thank you so much!” Giddily, his eyes sparkled in anticipation. Mission accomplished, so to speak. That is, except for…

“…But, Courf, there’s just…one thing…” Slowly, that spark that had ignited in Marius for a blaze of a second started to diminish, as he thought more. “…I don’t really know Paris that well, really. I’ve only been living here for a year or so, and I haven’t seen many of the not so touristy attractions. Where do I even begin to look for the right place to take him, when he knows this place so much better than I do?” And now, Pontmercy’s panic was setting in. “You’ve lived here all your life, you _must_ know of a nice place, don’t you?!”

Courf then remembered a specific gallery Enjolras had mentioned by name to him a few weeks ago, when they and a few other friends had gone out one night. But would that be too obvious to suggest to Marius? Would Enjolras be able to trace everything back to Courf? He figured he might as well take a chance that it wouldn’t happen—helping Marius make the perfect date seemed way more important.

“I know exactly which one you should go to. It’s over in Montparnasse, and it’s absolutely _stunning._ Here, let me write it down….”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_22:53_ **[message from Marius]:** hey enjolras, i was wondering if u would like 2 do something w/ me tomorrow?? there’s this art exhibit i’ve been meaning 2 go see for months now, if u r free & interested?

_22:54_ **[message from Enjolras]:** marius, it’s nice to hear from you. that sounds great, what’s the address?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eventual Courferre/Marjolras double dates in the future, maybe??? I'm predicting, yes!!  
> Writing Marius' horrible text slang gives me such life okay, that is all.  
> Also: in the interest of making sure I don't write about something that isn't real, I'm not name-dropping any specific places in Paris besides like, the obvious ones (the Eiffel tower, the Seine, Musée d'Orsey, those kinds of things). I've researched certain things in Paris and have modeled my scenes after them (par exemple--the museum they're about to go to? Heavy influence thanks to Musée Bourdelle in Montparnasse). I think that will be enough to keep confusion down to a minimum, as well as inaccuracies. Hopefully that's fine with everyone, just wanted to point out that that is why there are very little specifics in this fic.  
> Look for the next update soon, which will be the museum 'not-a-date' experience in its entirety. It's going to be super lameeeeeee  
> Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of it so far!!


	5. Just Trying to Play Along

“And this one—impressive, don’t you think?”

With a question like that, Marius was beginning to think that going to a museum had been a terrible idea all along. He felt like he absolutely knew nothing about any of the things that could hold Enjolras’ interest—which was weird, because before all of this, he had thought himself to have a pretty good grasp on art history. So much for that; this museum was unlike anything he knew about. Enjolras seemed to be pretty devoted to this particular movement, for he easily recounted a timeline of popular works before they even had stepped foot into the gallery. Desperately trying to play along, Marius attempted to sound like he had any sort of prior knowledge of sculptures and artwork.

 “It’s uh…it’s nice, yes. Lots of brass-work and…moulding, um…I mean, its beauty pretty much speaks for itself, am I right?” And that was that, he hoped that would be enough. The more he spoke, the more he wanted to disappear.

Enjolras nodded in agreement and understanding, whilst he kept talking on and on about the symbolism each piece represented in the eyes of the artist. Marius had to admit that what he was saying was poised and poetic in its own way, too—listening to Enjolras speak about something he was passionate about was a work of art in and of itself. He found himself hanging on every word, captivated by the sparks they ignited within him. What was this feeling, he wondered to himself? Was it comfortable to feel this way? And without even realising it, he began to ponder whether or not he would be permitted to have these thoughts so boldly.

As they inched down the corridor of the gallery, stopping to admire each work on its own, Enjolras kept glancing back at Marius who was about two steps behind him. It was pretty obvious that Marius was working hard at trying to impress him, but he found that this didn’t bother him in the slightest. It did make him think, though—on multiple occasions, Marius had acted this way around him. And what did that mean, exactly? Was he trying to say something? Why did he care so much? It made Enjolras’ head spin and his heart beat in double time, and he found that he couldn’t find an easy label to give to him emotions. That only left him with even more questions that he didn’t feel ready to ask out loud yet.

“If you like these, we could go out into the courtyard and look at the bigger sculptures? From here, it seems like there are lots of them outside.” Enjolras asked nonchalantly, as he pointed to the window on their left that looked out into a corridor neatly decorated with trailing ivy and marble figures in a circular-shaped garden. They had walked the entirety of the main gallery by now—on the other side of the way was the other gallery, which then led to the exit of the museum.

Marius was eager to get out of the stuffy gallery and into the fresh air, so he wasted no time in letting Enjolras know. “That sounds positively lovely, I would like that a lot.” A few steps forward was all it took for him to catch up to Enjolras’ stride. As they both turned toward the entrance to the garden, their walking synchronised automatically. Neither one of them said anything, although they both took note of it.

And there was really something special about this place—the way it opened up into an airy courtyard that contained the sweet smell of rose and something that belonged uniquely to Paris. Marius couldn’t contain his quiet gasp as he took in the sight. So much more was contained within the brick walls of the courtyard; he was more impressed with these works than he was with the ones inside, that was for certain. A dazzling centrepiece of a sculpture was situated in the middle, and the dirt pathway wove around it intricately. Stepping out onto it, he felt like he was worlds away from where he actually was, and it took Enjolras to break his dream-like reverie.  

“My god, I…I saw this in some of the promotional photos they used for advertising the exhibit, but it’s much more stunning in person.” He said, as he turned to look at a particularly eye-catching bronze piece to his right. At one point (and, maybe he had just imagined the whole thing, now that he thought about it), Marius thought he had seen Enjolras reach out as if to touch the piece, only to withdraw his hands back in realisation after a moment.

“I wanted to take you to a place that was really cool, you know? It’s just a really rather nice coincidence that you happen to like this artist so much. I had no idea….” Marius trailed off, as he bit his lip for show. “It’s really great to see you enjoy it so much.”

“Well, thanks for inviting me; I’m glad we could go together. I had been meaning to try and work something out with you, so it was a pleasant surprise to see you had already been thinking about it.” Enjolras said, but the more he weighed his words, the more visibly uncomfortable he seemed to get.  _‘Why the hell did I say that, he’ll think I’m calling him out…’_ he thought.

Marius didn’t show much of a reaction, though. “Yeah, me too. I was a little shocked that I hadn’t seen you in person since we dropped off Louise at Cosette’s, what with our rooms being so close—or else, I would have invited you out much, much sooner.” Now, they had commenced walking around the pathways of the garden that wove closer to the brick wall that was the boundary of the exhibit, and would surely lead them back to the centre in no time at all.

“Oh, well it’s just that I’ve been so busy—I’m sorry for that. My friends and I, we’ve been meeting for weeks and weeks, trying to  _finally_ kick start our movement after so many years spent planning for it.” Enjolras replied, with a tinge of frustration evident in his voice. “We’ll lose track of time on the nights that we meet, and then I end up coming home so late—it’s an inconvenience now, but I hope it will all be worth the difference it will eventually make.”

Marius nodded, although he wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at, based upon the vague description. Carefully, he prodded for further knowledge by saying “This movement—can I hear more about it?”

At this, Enjolras’ eyes flashed with vibrant intensity. Too excited for his own good, he was forced to stop walking as he launched into an eloquent explanation of the group he was forming. Marius listened intently, truly fascinated by Enjolras’ spark for democratic advocacy and equality for all people; and it all made sense to him, even though he wasn’t quite up to speed with that sort of thing, in all honesty. He found that Enjolras just had a knack for making the technical terms explainable without skipping out on any of the passionate bits.

The more Enjolras talked about his organisation, the more Marius got this nagging feeling that he had heard of it or had seen it advertised around campus before, though. As he stood and listened, he tried to pinpoint if he had actually heard of it from someone, or if he was just remembering it from a flyer he passed by on his way to class. It was only when Enjolras mentioned where they met—the Café Musain—did Marius finally put two and two together.

This definitely was something Courfeyrac was trying to tell him about a couple weeks ago; why, he wasn’t quite sure, and couldn’t remember for the life of him. He could only assume that Courf was indeed a member of the group, but he felt like asking Enjolras if he knew him would overstep his boundaries of privacy. Plus, if he was incorrect, he wasn’t sure if he could justify his statement, so he chose to keep it to himself. When Enjolras was finished explaining the concept to him, Marius eagerly thanked him with lots of nodding and an enthusiastic exclamation of well wishes for the future of the cause. By now, they were quickly approaching the entrance to the other side of the inside gallery.

“You can always stop by and see what we do, if you want? Don’t feel any obligation to join, but we’d love to have you see for yourself.” Enjolras said in reply. “I can give you a flyer—we meet next week.”

“Oh gosh, I…Sign me up, I’d love to come, a-as long as that’s cool with your friends—“

“We accept everyone. My friends will make short work of becoming  _yours_ , too.” Enjolras had cut Marius off mid-sentence, only because he couldn’t bear to hear him seem so uncertain and unwelcome. Honestly, he could think of nothing he’d like more than to see Marius at one of the meetings at the Musain.

In response to this, Marius could form no words. He just kind of gaped at Enjolras, as this overwhelming feeling washed over him. Even if he wasn’t 100 percent certain that Enjolras’ words would hold true in the end, it felt so nice to hear it from him; definitely reassuring, if not comforting. It was in that moment that Marius realised he had been seeking Enjolras’ approval ever since he met him, and at least now, he felt like he had it momentarily.

A silence followed, which seemed to be the cue to let the conversation naturally still. They had proceeded inside and had walked the rest of the gallery and when they finally exited out of the double doors of the building and were out on the streets of Montparnasse, it became evident that their get-together was officially coming to a close.

That is, until Enjolras asked “Do you want to go get something quick to eat, before we go back? I know this really good kiosk that will custom make any crepe to your order, if you’re interested and wouldn’t mind stopping for a bite?”

That hadn’t been part of the plan, but Marius could never complain about the prospect of getting more time together with Enjolras. “That sounds positively spectacular, actually. It would be nice to get a bite”

One successful not-a-date down—and if they were lucky, they both hoped there would be many more to come in the near future. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrightalright, this took a bit longer to write than I anticipated, and it only sets up/establishes a small part of plot, but I hope you like it regardless. The slow build of friends-to-lovers starts now, and I hope I can keep the pace and progression of their story at a good rate that flows naturally!!  
> Teasers for next update (which I'll try to get out asap): Marius attends a meeting at the Musain!! Going to plug some various Les Amis in for good measure, so that should be fun!!  
> Again, thank you for reading this fic, and I hope you continue to like it. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!!


	6. Just Keeping My Word

In the back of a seemingly deserted Musain sat a very eager Marius, who felt a little alone and out of place. He had made sure to make it to the café extra early just in case, for some odd reason, he would be accidentally late. For being quite the dishevelled person, he was usually always punctual to everything, but he wasn’t willing to risk that today. When he had made a promise to Enjolras to be there on time, he meant to keep his word no matter what.

Keeping his word meant showing up 45 minutes early to the meeting, or so he thought. The Café Musain was much easier to find than he anticipated, so it took nearly no time to get to it from his last class of the day. Already, evening was quickly approaching, and a kind of calmness had settled over the city. The Musain itself reflected that mood; mostly because no one but a tired looking barista behind the bar was in there with Marius, and not a single customer could be seen. As he anxiously glanced at his watch every few minutes or so, uncertainty began to grow in the pit of his stomach.

Just like that, a flood of questions Marius codidn’t have answers for began to overwhelm him. The one that kept persistently nagging at him had to be: _“Am I handling this with care?”_

By this, of course he meant Enjolras. After their get-together at the art museum, the two of them had been texting back and forth and calling each other for days. Covering as many topics as they could was a fun and exciting way to get to know one another, and unlike anything Marius had been previously accustomed to with other relationships. The most surprising and pleasant part of getting to know Enjolras was that Marius never once felt that recognisable twist of insecurity he usually always got when he talked about himself, or the things that he thought defined him.  Enjolras made him feel like he was _enough—_ good enough, smart enough, nice enough, insightful enough—all of these things and more! Too much of Marius’ life had been spent quivering with hollowness and inhibition. He longed to be able to express himself the way he had always desired, and it seemed like he had found that in Enjolras’ companionship. In a way, he never wanted that feeling to stop, if he could help it.

But he didn’t want to say too much, and he feared he was doing so. Marius found it all too easy to start talking about things he really shouldn’t, as soon as he figured he was allowed to—and he had quite a lot to divulge. Much of that came with having had to keep things bottled up and under wraps for so long in his life. Every time he could sense himself getting dangerously close to a sensitive topic, he had to forcefully reel himself in. Although he was dying to get everything out there to _someone_ who would listen, the notion of going too hot and heavy scared him.  If he had to be honest, he didn’t trust himself enough not to say something horrific and ruin it all…

And what if he did? That was his main concern—what if he did, and he pushed Enjolras away? Feeling free to share anything with someone came with its perks and downfalls, he was now realising. He understood that he had to tread lightly with this relationship, since it already meant so much to him. As much as he thought Enjolras might understand the things he wanted to say, he didn’t think bringing them up now was appropriate or beneficial to their growing friendship. But god, how he wanted it—and how easy it would be to do so simply amazed him.

The words _‘take care’_ became his mantra in those few days between their first meeting and now. He vowed to do that to the best of his ability, or at least attempt.

About 20 minutes later, the same bored barista from before left their post behind the espresso machine in a couple hurried steps. Marius watched from his seat in the back, as they began to push several of the longer tables together towards one side of the café. When they were finished, it looked as if there was enough room at the set up for at least 12 or so people. He figured that was where Enjolras’ Musain Society would be situated for the meeting.

5 minutes later, and the familiar sound of the door swooshing open filled the nearly silent café. With it came the sound of several footsteps, and a collection of booming voices all talking at once.

“Think of it this way, it would do us all some good to go get away for a little bit…and what better place than the countryside? Nature, the great outdoors—but most importantly, no smog! Doesn’t it sound delightful?” All of this was spoken by a lithe looking young man who wore half-rimmed glasses and a nervous smile. He was walking side-by-side with a man who was nearly triple his height, with a round face and strong arms. Somehow, they gave off the appearance that their differences completed each other.

“Yeah, so we can all watch you douse yourself in insect repellent the entire time, and then listen to you make up every excuse in the book not to go hiking? No thanks.” The taller man laughed as he clasped his hand onto the other man’s shoulder. “Joly, I know you pretty well and, as much as you say you like going outside and being one with nature or whatever it is you want to do, I’m also pretty certain you’d _hate_ it and would complain the whole time—“

“But he does have a point!” came another voice, loud and musical. Marius could see that it belonged to someone with impeccable yet eclectic style, and who stood much shorter than the other two people who had entered the café. “Imagine a whole week away from this horrible smog, if you can—I can just picture it. I’ve been trapped in this city for so long, I feel as though I can’t even manage another breath!”

A huff sounded behind them, as a man who could rival Marius for the ‘Most Dishevelled Individual’ award entered. Wearing a simple cotton t-shirt that was the same colour of his dark brown boots, the newcomer had this aura about him that suggested he wasn’t all that interested in being here—but instead, had to be by obligation. He had heard at least the last part of the conversation, for he responded to it with a simple exclamation of “You’ll live, Jehan. Your chain smoking habit says otherwise.” Dark shadows created the appearance of jagged edges on his expression, and Marius could only think that he looked a little worn out. All heads turned to peer at him, as he took his time moseying over to the group.

Jehan, Marius now knew, simply scoffed lightly and flashed the newcomer a smile that seemed genuine. “You’re one to talk, Grantaire—you’re nearly just as bad as me. But, I’m happy to see you here. After last week, we weren’t sure you’d want to make it.”

“I had a bit of encouragement from a certain someone—you know that.” Grantaire replied, as he rolled back his right shoulder uncomfortably. The three other people nodded in response.

“I’ll thank Feuilly later, but as for right now, shall we take our seats?” Jehan spoke simply, waving a hand over to the place where the chairs and tables were. They seemed to not have noticed Marius yet, for they didn’t acknowledge him over in his own little corner.

“Sure, sure—but first, refreshments?” The guy with the strong build said excitedly. “They didn’t have almond pound cake last time, and I’ll be severely disappointed if it’s the same case this week!” Without waiting for much of a response, he bounded off towards the open door to the backroom of the café, where the barista had disappeared to after everything had been set up.

What remained of the first arrivals gradually took their seats over in the corner as they chatted more—from what Marius could catch, they had resumed their discussion of the benefits of day trips outside of Paris. He wondered to himself if he should make it a point to go over and join them now, but instead, he hung back and awaited the arrival of more members.

He didn’t have to sit for long—a moment later, two other people marched in, followed by a woman who was right on their heels. When their appearance was noted by the others, a loud shout of joy filled the room with delight. They took turns embracing each other in tight hugs and typical greeting kisses on the cheeks, as they launched into different topics and subjects. Just after that, the man who had disappeared to get food emerged with a platter of different pastries in one hand and a pitcher of something in the other. A smiling woman who Marius had not seen before followed close behind, carrying what made up the rest of it. When all was laid out in the middle and everyone began to take their share, the two of them sat down on either side of the bespectacled man—Joly—and wrapped their arms around him lovingly.

Still though, no Enjolras—which was surprising. With 5 minutes until the official start of the meeting, Marius had figured he would be here by now. Of course, a lot could still happen in five minutes. He gave himself a minute or so more of hanging off to the side before he would make the leap and join the others.

A second or so later, something strange happened that Marius hadn’t been expecting. Someone he knew walked in, leaving Marius completely speechless.

“Hi everyone, sorry I’m late. I got caught up after work, but I did my best to…Wait, are you the guy from the library?”

And as soon as he spoke, Marius was quickly hit with a fast realisation—this had to be the same guy Courf had been drooling over that day at the library. Automatically, he stood up from his little perch at the single table he had been occupying for almost an hour and went to greet him.

“Uh, yes, I’m…I’m Marius, and I remember you, you’re Combeferre, right?” He mumbled out, quickly throwing out a hand for him to shake rather nervously. Combeferre’s gaze alone was very intimidating, and he found himself wanting to shy away from it. Secretly though, he was rather pleased to know that he’d have two familiar faces with him today.

Combeferre nodded in response, shaking his hand in a firm and confident motion. “Are you here for the meeting?”

When Marius gave a little half-nod in response, the woman who had entered with the two others a few minutes before gave a loud exclamation of “Then what are you doing over there, silly? The meeting’s right _here,_ come join us! _”_

“O-oh, I, uh…” Marius stammered, uncertain. That was an invitation enough, but it seemed all too intimidating to jump right in to a group of 8 or so people when he barely knew anyone there. “I just, well…I was…”

Combeferre gave a small yet contented smile before saying “We’re all here, save for Enjolras. I could introduce you to everyone, if you’d like?” It was obvious that he understood how Marius was feeling, and was willing to do anything to make him feel more at ease.

Realising that it truly was a now or never situation, Marius gave a shaking “Y-yes, please,” before being ushered over to the boisterous members of the Musain Society.

A seat was pulled up for him at the very front of the table, so from this angle, Marius could now see the faces of his soon to be friends. They all looked up expectantly, and with kind expressions. A blush settled on Marius’ cheeks almost instantly.

“Well, it seems that Enjolras is running behind…not unusual, as we all know…But in the meantime, we have someone here who’s interested in joining us, so. Introductions? That might be in order.” Combeferre spoke, as he took the seat to Marius’ left. He threw his satchel down at his feet and then pulled himself closer to the edge of the table. “This is Marius—we met at the library by chance, that’s how we know each other.”

At this, Marius gave a shy little wave and a smile to everyone, not sure if he should add anything more about himself. He figured that what Combeferre had said would suffice for the time being.

The person on Marius’ right spoke first—a woman with dark hair pulled back in a loose bun. “I’ll go first, then? I’m Eponine.” She said as she mimicked Marius’ wave a little mockingly, but with a wider smile.

“And I’m Feuilly!” came another voice from right next to Eponine. He was wearing a white cotton t-shirt with a geometric pattern on the front, and his smile radiated good feeling.

A jovial laugh carried out then, as the slicked-haired man next to Feuilly leaned forward for his turn. “Nice to meet you, I’m Bahorel.”

Then it was the angular-jawed guy’s turn to introduce himself. Marius found it rather ironic that his expression could be cast in so much shadow, but the dusty blond of his hair highlighted the outline of his face so brightly. “I’m Grantaire.” He stated simply, and Marius could detect just a little bit of an accent in his voice that he had a hard time pinpointing.

The person who went next had on the prettiest shirt Marius had ever seen; when they came in, he hadn’t had a chance to really get a look at it, but he had definitely noticed they were well-dressed. Their hair was pulled up in a smooth bun with fringe falling in their face, and looking at their brilliant smile made Marius feel slightly star-struck. “A pleasure to meet you, Marius—I’m Jehan.”

Next was the muscular-looking man who was so intent to find snacks when he came in. “My turn? I’m Bossuet.” He said, giving a firm and friendly wave from the other side of the table. “Glad to see you here.”

Marius remembered the name of the next guy—Joly, he was pretty sure. His glasses were slipping down his nose when it came time for him to speak, but he didn’t seem too keen on fixing them just yet. “Marius, was it? I’m Joly, and it’s very nice to meet you!”

The last person was the woman on the other side of Joly. She had on a blue sheer top and gold earrings that really complimented each other well. When she looked him over, she had a comparably similar expression to one Marius had seen Enjolras make before—one that meant business, cunning, and strength. With a smile to match, she looked nearly unstoppable. “We’re very glad to have you with us—the name’s Musichetta.”

With that, Marius thanked them for taking the time to welcome him in such a way. “I’m glad to be here, too. It’s nice to meet you all. I-I’m sorry if I’ll have to ask any of you again for your names, I’ve a-always had a bit of a hard time remembering ones, after introductions, uhm…”

Someone laughed—who it was, Marius wasn’t sure, but they seemed nice enough about it. He hoped that he was making a good impression to start.

“How did you come to hear about us, Marius?” Bahorel shouted then, from the other side of the table. He appeared genuinely interested in the actual answer, not like he was just asking it to make small talk. It was then that Marius really realised that this group had a mission they wanted to see fulfilled, and they weren’t just here to hang out with each other.

“I, uhm…I just—the whole story? Well, that’s really quite long, but…Basically, I—“ Marius tried, but the sound of the door opening made everyone’s head turn away from him. Even if Marius had started saying clear, coherent sentences, they wouldn’t have looked back.

Sure enough, there in the threshold stood Enjolras. When he entered, everybody at the table erupted in a loud exclamation of cheer. What they were saying was incoherent when mixed all together, but it was clear they were glad to see him, finally.

Taking steps in, Enjolras smiled. “Sorry about that—it was almost impossible to get here, what with all the traffic. Something about construction down the way, or….” In mid-stride, he had started to shed his outer jacket absentmindedly. He looked a bit winded, like he had just come from a long bike ride. But of course, he had that healthy glow he always possessed—the one that made Marius’ mouth feel all dry.

Enjolras hadn’t had a really good chance to look at the congregation of eager university students gathered together right away, but now as he looked up, his eyes fell upon Marius. He stopped talking completely, too taken aback by such a pleasant surprise. After a moment, he regained composure. “Marius, I—you made it? My god, I’m glad you’re here!”

Marius stood up, simply out of compulsory habit, as he burst into a violent shade of pink all the way down to his neck. It felt good to hear Enjolras tell him he was happy to see him, without a doubt. As Enjolras made it over, it was unclear how he was going to greet him—when he leaned over and kissed both of his cheeks quickly for ‘la bise’, as friends do, Marius thought he could die of happiness.

It was obvious that everyone else saw how he had reacted to Enjolras’ greeting; if the blush wasn’t enough, Marius’ dilated pupils were another indication. At one point, he thought he heard Bossuet turn to Joly and Musichetta to say “I take it Enjolras is a big part of the reason he’s here today…cute, no?” Marius just turned his gaze downward and tried to concentrate on not smiling so much.

Some others though, chose to address Enjolras’ comments from before and disregard that whole scene entirely. “No need to make excuses for being late, Enjolras—it’s a common enough occurrence, we understand,” said Bahorel, all whilst laughing. In return, Enjolras just shrugged before taking a seat on the other side of Combeferre.

“Well, now with introductions aside, I believe we can get down to business?” Everything Combeferre said came out like a rhetorical question, but it felt oddly comforting. Marius was thankful for the spotlight being taken off of him.

Everyone nodded in agreement, eager to get on with it—Enjolras most of all. He jumped into his role of commander and leader by diving straight in. “We’ll start where we left off last week, then—working on getting Feuilly’s article approved for the newsletter….”

And so, the Musain Society meeting commenced. They went on talking about specific projects they were collaboratively working on, which was supposed to help the cause as a whole, in the long run. It was all quite interesting for an outsider like Marius to observe. Everybody had such a spark for their fight and a will to work hard to reach their goals. It seemed like they had most of it all figured out, but sometimes, Marius found himself not fully grasping concepts they brought up that seemed like second nature to them. He figured that with time, he would come to understand everything a little more than he currently did, but for now, he would remain open-minded. He did his best to keep up for the next hour and a half, all while sneaking the random glance to Enjolras’ pretty and passionate mouth without even realising he was doing so.

By the end of it all, Marius had definitely come to the conclusion that he would do anything in his power to make it to these weekly meetings. As he walked out, engaged in pleasant conversation with several of his new friends and Enjolras, he couldn’t help but notice that this was the happiest he had felt in a really long while.

Only good could come of this, he hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, hello! Here we have chapter six (finally)!!!!! I apologise for the rushed ending, this chapter was meant to function as more of a 'Marius is introduced to Les Amis' kind of thing, and I didn't want to delve too deeply into actual Musain discussion until Marius can actually contribute to it and not just sit there like a lost, lovesick puppy....although it is terribly fun to write him this way??  
> i'm very glad that i got to insert one of my favourite things, that being la bise!!! i mean, c'mon, can you just imagine it? marius, being so taken aback by it??? sweet, sweet child...i love him so. also, marius is getting increasingly more "wow good yes goodgood enjolras is, y e s, good stuff!!!" if you haven't noticed, and i am so so sorry, i wouldn't be surprised if i managed to rush the whole thing and ruined it, just so we can get to the part where they get together soon ughhhhhh. standby, while i try to work this one through....  
> BUT, this is my first time writing about the group in one scene (save for courf, who didn't make it in this chapter, sorry)!!! if you have any characterisation suggestions, feel free to write a message w/ some tips, pls and thanks  
> that being said, i also want to put it out there that i figure that some of my descriptions of various les amis' might not fit the usual descriptions, and i hope that wasn't misleading!! i have modern au headcanon appearances for everyone that might not be considered typical, so i understand the confusion. if you are ever confused on who is who, or who looks like who, feel free to comment, i'd love to talk appearance aus for all of Les Amis!!!  
> anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! i look forward to creating the next one soon. as always, thanks for reading!!


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